Talk about a public relations hit: New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg only meant at a Monday press conference to showcase his police department’s recent success with gun confiscations and highlight the number of illegal weapons that were removed in a yearlong investigation and subsequent seizure. But what he did instead was point all those weapons at audience members — a stark violation of basic gun safety rules.

Adding to the incident is the fact that Mr. Bloomberg helps head up Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group dedicated to scaling back right-to-carry laws around the nation, and is one of the most vocal voices in the political world for Second Amendment reform.

New York Police Department officials were calling the cache of weapons at Monday’s press conference the “biggest firearm takedown” in city history, The Blaze reported. But as Twitchy commented: All the weapons that were displayed on the tables — and there were dozens — were placed so that the points of the barrels faced audience members. One of the most basic rules of gun safety calls for treating each and every weapon as if it were loaded — no matter what.